Recently, there was a proposal to call our modern period the "Anthropocene". This term describes the age dominated by humans, a term which is certainly descriptive of our time. Humans have gone from cavepeople chasing woolly mammoths to city dwellers in concrete jungles. In many ways, we are the top of the food chain and decide the fate of our fellow creatures. But has our dominance been taken too far? It is our responsibility to be stewards of this land, yet we are surrounded by polluted waterways, filthy air, invasive species, forest fragmentation, and garbage. As a student in Environmental Science at St. Vincent College, I hope to make an impact on our ecosystems and natural environments. I believe that changes to the planet's ecological problems can start small and local. Climate change is a huge problem that covers the whole planet, so it might be overwhelming to think about combating such a thing. One might feel like their actions are insignificant and thereby reduce their vitalness in this fight. While indeed climate change is a big problem that needs to be addressed with big changes such as environmental legislation, there is much to be done on a smaller scale. Anyone can clean up trash around their home. Anyone can identify and eradicate invasive species on their property. And anyone can provide habitat on their property for native species. These changes are significant, make an impact, provide quick return, and help one appreciate their contribution in ecological restoration. With my environmental science degree, I can lead such activities through local forestry, which is something important to me as someone knowledgeable of trees and surrounded by woods. Another change I encourage is practicality. While environmentalists can be viewed as crazy radicals, I think that we need to take on a more realistic worldview. People don't really want to make sacrifices for the environment. They won't do certain green practices unless they are easy, convenient, or rewarded. My point is that we need to make choosing the green route effortless. For example, compost and recycling bins should be a must near trash cans because no food waste or salvageable plastics should enter the landfill. If possible, rewards/sanctions should be implemented because sometimes that is what is necessary to get people to care. I witnessed this at school when people wouldn't differentiate between the compost and trash cans in the dining hall and put whatever they felt like into either bin. To my original point, however, we can't expect people to go crazy distances for the benefit of the environment, but we can make it easier and more worthwhile for them to go green. My final major suggestion is to examine closely the way we manage land. We aren't getting anymore of it, and it is only going to get tighter. Therefore it is of the utmost importance to ensure conservation and sustainable urbanization. We are not the only creatures who need space to thrive, and such creatures need to be given adequate land to survive. As we expand, new houses should be constructed with goals of reducing disturbance to the surrounding areas and incorporating energy-saving features. Other land-consuming structures are landfills. If, as a society, we can reduce our need for plastics and other single-use items, we can slow the rate at which landfills reach capacity and thereby reduce the amount of land turned barren because of our garbage. By looking local, accepting practicality, and examining land management critically, we can progress to a more eco-friendly future. Every effort makes an impact, and every caring individual is important in this fight.

“We are the first generation to feel the impact of climate change and the last generation that can do something about it.” -Barack Obama My name is Kenny Battistelli. I am a second-year undergraduate student at Chatham University in Pennsylvania. I’m studying environmental science, with a minor in botany. I understand the need to protect our environment–the earth on which we live that cannot speak for itself. Growing up in a rural area, I’ve seen the beauty of nature and its man-driven demise. Fortunately, what I’ve witnessed in my neck of the woods is relatively insignificant when you compare it to the mass destruction that occurs in places like the Amazon Rainforest. It is in these areas that species face extinction and tropical, mature rainforests are losing the battle against fires and bulldozers. Forget for a second what is happening on land, and look beneath the waters of the ocean, where corals are being bleached, ice is melting and disrupting the circulatory system of the sea, and unsustainable fishing practices are disrupting aquatic food systems. I understand that once a species is extinct, it is gone. I understand the detriment of deforestation on flora and fauna. I understand the ocean’s role in regulating temperature, providing oxygen, and sourcing our food. But I also understand that time is running out to change the way we live and protect the planet’s ecosystems. Thus, I am passionate that we highlight conservation and environmental protection now. This isn’t an isolated issue, in time or location. It is a global issue that we all have witnessed and now have to atone for. My studies at Chatham University will prepare me to become a forester. With forests across the eastern seaboard being so fragmented and exposed to an increasing number of foreign diseases and insects, it is important to manage these spaces. Through forest management, I can combat invasive species, promote native plants and in turn, native pollinators, protect vulnerable species from extinction in their native range, reduce the risk of forest fire through brush management, and assist in the sustainable harvesting of timber for human consumption. Therefore, while my work might only benefit the locality in which I work, if everyone did the same for their forested lands and took the initiative to clean up outside, we would have a much healthier network of woodlands. Another pro to this work is that it is tangible. You can see the benefits of your hard work rapidly, which is something that people trying to fight global climate on a global scale might not have the privilege of. Small, local work can have far-reaching and impactful benefits. One forester does not make a difference on a global scale, but a large group can. Therefore, I recommend that everyone try to be more environmentally alert wherever they live and start with small, tangible projects. Such projects include picking up trash, removing invasive species, reducing single-use plastic consumption, and properly recycling materials. While large-scale activism is necessary and important in the fight against global climate change, small-scale, centralized change, when it takes root in communities and regions, can be just as impactful and important. This is a global problem–it’s going to require determination, purpose, and persistence. Let us do our part to preserve this plant for our health, for our families, and for the future.

Mental health is something everybody has to deal with at some point in their lives. How people are impacted and to what extent they are harmed varies. My mental health crisis came about two summers ago. It was a long time coming–things built up over the years and I finally hit a breaking point. My life spun out of control, my normal life was on “pause,” and I became a confused and frustrated 17-year-old. Allow me to backtrack. OCD is a disorder that you might hear talked about often but not usually as a serious matter. When something “bugs” someone, they might say they are “so OCD.” But the OCD that I’ve struggled with, and that many others deal with, is not like this at all. Those with OCD are stereotyped to be clean freaks and obsessed with tidiness but that is only one way this disorder affects people. For me, OCD manifested as moral scrupulosity. Moral scrupulosity is an obsession with morality and religious issues. As a Catholic, there are many commandments and teachings to follow. It is normal and good to strive to obey these teachings, accept when you mess up, make amends, and move on. For one afflicted with moral scrupulosity, it is not so simple. I was praying ritualistically every day. I would make lists of anything I thought or did that might not have been the most moral or Christian. It felt like I was teetering on the edge of Heaven and I couldn’t take it. It was my priest who helped at this low point. He was the one who caught on to my intense, obsessive, and crippling fears and pointed me towards professional help. From there, I began working with a knowledgeable psychologist who helped get me back on track. I was on my way to freedom from the thoughts that kept me chained down. I want to take a moment to clarify that it was not my Catholic faith, but rather moral scrupulosity that got me into this situation and that I was gaining freedom from. I was being bound less and less by fear and could finally get some relief. That was until my OCD morphed into “harm” OCD. This type of the disorder causes one to obsess over [not] causing harm to others. Someone with harm OCD might wonder if they are a terrible person and if they would ever commit an egregious offense. Thoughts of losing control and hurting someone plague their mind. These thoughts are extremely distressing because they are ego-dystonic, meaning they do not align with one’s core values. For the normal person, a terrible thought might float on by without causing much distress. They might shrug it off or briefly wonder where in the world it came from! Those with OCD have a “sticky” mind. Thoughts get stuck there. So, bad thoughts stick and prompt “what-if” questions. What if I’m a terrible person? What if I lost control? What if I really did that? As this form of OCD took hold in my life, I lost my sanity completely. I couldn’t function and became quite literally insane. This led me to a crisis center and an outpatient day program at WellSpan Philhaven. With the support of my family, a psychiatrist, and my psychologist who was with me since the beginning of my struggle with OCD, I slowly returned to functionality. Neither the moral scrupulosity nor the harm OCD have gone away completely and both still affect me to this day. However, the intensity and frequency of these disorders have significantly subsided. So far I’ve described my journey with mental health so now I wish to address the effect it had on my relationships and outlook on life. As mentioned previously, my parents were very supportive during this turbulent period of my life, especially my dad. The things that OCD had me doing and thinking were absurd and most people would think I was actually insane if I confided in them. However, my dad listened to it all. I would tell him what I was thinking about–what was driving me crazy–and he would help me distinguish between OCD and reality. He attended my therapy appointments with me (with my permission) and read a self-help book about OCD to understand better how to help. He was there for me when I was at my worst. Thus, I developed a newfound respect for my dad that I still remember and hold onto. My mental health crisis did have an impact on my outlook on life. When I struggled during that summer, I stopped doing what I loved–gardening. Gardening is my best hobby. I maintain a flower garden and landscape at home that I developed myself. It can be such a rewarding and peaceful thing to do. So during my OCD episode, I stopped gardening. I wanted to be ok before I got back to work in my space. I wanted to be unburdened so I could just enjoy my time out there. Enter an important lesson: if you keep waiting around for things to be/feel completely better, you might be waiting your whole life. It reminds me of that quote: It’s not about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning to dance in the rain. Things are always going to pop up in life, events that cause stress or are just not ideal. So if you wait to live until after all your problems have completely passed, you aren’t going to do much living. In my case, I was letting imaginary problems ruin my life, prevent me from doing what I loved, and keep me perpetually scared. If I could do it again (which I really do not want to do) I would try to keep moving forward with life during the struggle. Instead of sitting in the rain waiting for it to end, grab your rainboots and rainjacket and dance!

Mental health is something everybody has to deal with at some point in their lives. How people are impacted and to what extent they are harmed varies. My mental health crisis came about two summers ago. It was a long time coming–things built up over the years and I finally hit a breaking point. My life spun out of control, my normal life was on pause, and I became a confused and frustrated 17-year-old. Allow me to backtrack. OCD is a disorder that you might hear talked about often but not usually as a serious matter. When something “bugs” someone, they might say they are “so OCD.” But the OCD that I’ve struggled with, and that many others deal with, is not like this at all. Those with OCD are stereotyped to be clean freaks and obsessed with tidiness but that is only one way this disorder affects people. For me, OCD manifested as moral scrupulosity. Moral scrupulosity is an obsession with morality and religious issues. As a Catholic, there are many commandments and teachings to follow. It is normal and good to strive to obey these teachings, accept when you mess up, make amends, and move on. For one afflicted with moral scrupulosity, it is not so simple. I was praying ritualistically every day. I would make lists of anything I thought or did that might not have been the most moral or Christian. It felt like I was teetering on the edge of Heaven and I couldn’t take it. It was my priest who helped at this low point. He was the one who caught on to my intense, obsessive, and crippling fears and pointed me towards professional help. From there, I began working with a knowledgeable psychologist who helped get me back on track. I was on my way to freedom from the thoughts that kept me chained down. I want to take a moment to clarify that it was not my Catholic faith, but rather moral scrupulosity that got me into this situation and that I was gaining freedom from. I was being bound less and less by fear and could finally get some relief. That was until my OCD morphed into “harm” OCD. This type of the disorder causes one to obsess over [not] causing harm to others. Someone with harm OCD might wonder if they are a terrible person and if they would ever commit an egregious offense. Thoughts of losing control and hurting someone plagues their mind. These thoughts are extremely distressing because they are ego-dystonic, meaning they do not align with one’s core values. For the normal person, a terrible thought might float on by without causing much distress. They might shrug it off or briefly wonder where in the world it came from! Those with OCD have a “sticky” mind. Thoughts get stuck there. So, bad thoughts stick and prompt “what-if” questions. What if I’m a terrible person? What if I lost control? What if I really did that? As this form of OCD took hold in my life, I lost my sanity completely. I couldn’t function and became quite literally insane. This led me to a crisis center and an outpatient day program at WellSpan Philhaven. With the support of my family, a psychiatrist, and my psychologist who was with me since the beginning of my struggle with OCD, I slowly returned to functionality. Neither the moral scrupulosity nor the harm OCD have gone away completely and both still affect me to this day. However, the intensity and frequency of these disorders have significantly subsided. So far I’ve described my journey with mental health so now I wish to address the effect it had on my relationships and outlook on life. As mentioned previously, my parents were very supportive during this turbulent period of my life, especially my dad. The things that OCD had me doing and thinking were absurd and most people would think I was actually insane if I confided in them. However, my dad listened to it all. I would tell him what I was thinking about–what was driving me crazy–and he would help me distinguish between OCD and reality. He attended my therapy appointments with me (with my permission) and read a self-help book about OCD to understand better how to help. He was there for me when I was at my worst. Thus, I developed a newfound respect for my dad that I still remember and hold onto. My mental health crisis did have an impact on my outlook on life. When I struggled during that summer, I stopped doing what I loved–gardening. Gardening is my best hobby. I maintain a flower garden and landscape at home that I developed myself. It can be such a rewarding and peaceful thing to do. So during my OCD episode, I stopped gardening. I wanted to be ok before I got back to work in my space. I wanted to be unburdened so I could just enjoy my time out there. Enter an important lesson: if you keep waiting around for things to be/feel completely better, you might be waiting your whole life. It reminds me of that quote: It’s not about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning to dance in the rain. Things are always going to pop up in life, events that cause stress or are just not ideal. So if you wait to live until after all your problems have completely passed, you aren’t going to do much living. In my case, I was letting imaginary problems ruin my life, prevent me from doing what I loved, and keep me perpetually scared. If I could do it again (which I really do not want to do) I would try to keep moving forward with life during the struggle. Instead of sitting in the rain waiting for it to end, grab your rainboots and rainjacket and dance!

Gardening is not the typical hobby of a college boy, but it is my passion. Plants have been important to me since elementary school. My grandma, a nature and plant enthusiast herself, kindled my love for plants. She likes to make her house like a jungle and supply me with plants for my collection. We go to greenhouses together and we visit our favorite conservatory–Phipp’s Conservatory in Pittsburgh, PA–together on occasion. From a young age, I wanted to bring the beauty of the outdoors inside. As with most hobbies, my interest in plants took a few different directions. I was big into houseplants, I was big into forestry and environmental activism, and now I'm big into horticulture. Because of where I grew up, I had plenty of space to roam and develop the land as I pleased. Thus, as my love for horticulture grew, I took on a large landscaping project around my house. You see, we have an artificial pond system near my house. Before my parents moved in, it was a well-maintained garden. Eventually, the garden returned to weeds. I do not blame my parents as it was a large area and they were already really busy (I have 5 siblings). Regardless, I decided to take back the garden. I began my gardening project by weeding, landscaping, and maintaining a small section of the previous garden. After a successful start, I wailed into the rest of the project. I installed a stone pathway from rocks I collected in the woods. The existing ornamental plants were moved around and I planted zinnias in some open areas. Fast forward to a few years later and I have a large flower garden with established perennials and plenty of room for expansion and additional plants. There is always room for another plant, and if there isn’t you can always make room. All this goes to show that plants are my hobby and my passion. I now attend Chatham University where I study environmental science and botany. Additionally, I am a walk away from the conservatory I mentioned earlier! With my degree, I wish to become a forester. Just as a flowerbed full of color is beautiful, a well-maintained ecosystem is beautiful. Aside from the normal garden struggles–heat, cold, storms, drought, etc.--I had a mental health scare two summers ago. Just as I’ve been a plant fanatic since a young age, I’ve had OCD from a young age. The publicized version of OCD deals with an obsession to tidiness and cleanliness. But there are many more ways OCD can manifest. For me, OCD manifested as moral scrupulosity and later, and devastatingly, “harm” OCD. To make a long story short, the OCD I had lived with for years grew and grew and eventually consumed me during that summer. I was unable to function and get through the day. I worried constantly and created false narratives in my head that were rooted in fear. This lead me to receive professional care from a psychologist, psychiatrist, and mental health program. I’ve been recovering from OCD these last 3 years, with my ups and downs along the way. However, during that summer when I was just trying to get by, my garden was beautiful! This was very much a juxtaposition. There I was at my worst with a garden that was beginning to take shape and become established. This is a reminder to look for the beauty around you even in the worst moments. There wouldn’t be flowers without any rain. Happy gardening!

FLAT DIVA DRY BITE ZIP CHECK TAB RAISE ZEST BLAND STRESSED SPICE CALL MOOD FOLD DULL Answers: Level 1- DULL, BLAND, FLAT, DRY- Synonyms of boring Explanation: These are words that could describe something uninteresting or unexciting. Level 2- SPICE, ZEST, BITE, ZIP- Has a _______ to it (describing seasoned food) Explanation: When food is heavily seasoned, you might say it has a spice, a zest, a bite, or a zip. You might need a glass of milk after eating something like this! Level 3- CALL, RAISE, CHECK, FOLD- Poker terminology Explanation: When playing Texas Hold'em, you could: 1. RAISE and bet additional money 2. CHECK and opt not to add additional chips to the pot 3. CALL and bet to stay in the round or 4. FOLD and withdraw from the round. Level 4- STRESSED, DIVA, MOOD, TAB- Semordnilaps Explanation: These words can be read backward. In reverse, these words have different meanings. STRESSED becomes "desserts", DIVA becomes "avid", MOOD becomes "doom", TAB becomes "bat". Also known as backronyms, heteropalindromes, or reversgrams. As someone who plays the Connections almost every day, I am familiar with the tricks and traps the creators often employ to throw you off. Sometimes you think you know what the category is because you have matched a couple of words together but it turns out that those words don't go together and you weren't thinking of the correct linking category. I have used some of those tricks in my puzzle. For example, you might think that RAISE, TAB, and CHECK go together under the umbrella of "words associated with payment".

As with most college students, there was a time in my life when I struggled with mental illness. That illness was OCD. People rarely understand what OCD actually is. They might think it is a need to have everything tidy and organized, and while that may be the case for some OCD patients, that is just one of the many forms that OCD can take. For me, the disorder appeared as moral scrupulosity. Moral scrupulosity is a form of OCD that targets individuals deeply concerned with being a good person and/or those involved in a strict religion. It causes you to excessively ruminate about your internal self and about past things you may have done. One might question whether they are actually a good person or be caught up with the past. It is normal and healthy to examine yourself, learn from your mistakes, and forgive yourself. However, one with moral scrupulosity might have trouble letting the past go. Compulsions include excessive prayer, asking for others reassurance, or performing other "rituals" to provide temporary relief from the intrusive thoughts. Being Catholic, moral scrupulosity was able to latch onto my mind and ruin my life temporarily. It crept up slowly and then became consuming. I had trouble praying because my prayers needed to be said in just the right way. I also began to make lists of things I did throughout my day that probably weren't the greatest. When I got home from school I would go through my list and pray about the things I had written down. My prayers became lengthy, intensive, and ritualistic. I held myself to a standard that wasn't sustainable. I did feel better after the praying was completed, but the relief was temporary. The way to combat OCD is not to engage with the intrusive thoughts. Rather, the way to fight the obsessions is to, paradoxically, not engage or entertain them-simply let them float on by and don't dedicate any effort to them. However, I continued to interact with my nonsensical thoughts and so my scrupulosity persisted. I finally reached out to my priest who, per my request, talked to my parents about what I was going through. See, he had been trained to recognize moral scrupulosity but not to treat it. Thus, I needed to seek professional help. My parents were extremely supportive and thus my (bumpy) road to recovery began. Things got worse, so much worse, before they got better. After working with a trained psychologist with my moral scrupulosity, I began to get my life back. That is when harm OCD entered the conversation and things took a dark turn. (Harm OCD is a form of OCD that can be connected with moral scrupulosity and involves disturbing thoughts about the harm of others.) Sparing the details, I became unable to function. I wasn't able to do anything because the thought-compulsion cycle was too much to bear. I ended up going to a Crisis mental health emergency room and later to an out-patient day program at Wellspan Philhaven. With the support of my parents, the structure of the program, psychiatry, and a trusted psychologist, I am in a much better and more sustainable place mentally. While I still have OCD, I have learned so much about my disorder and how to fight it. I am now able to function independently and I'm majoring in ecology at Susquehanna University. I'm also a Dlll athlete in cross country and track. After college, I see myself working as a forester or horticulturist because of my love for plants.

Hello, my name is Kenny Battistelli. I am a plant enthusiast and have loved plants ever since I was a little kid. My interest in plants has changed over the years. I've studied forestry and horticulture, even developing my own flower garden at home. Houseplants were once at the center of my enthusiasm for plants, although now I focus more on the outdoors. I grew up in northern Lebanon County, PA which consists of farm fields and country roads. That being said, we had a spacious yard and our property extended into some woods, giving me plenty of space to roam and explore. My love for plants carried on through high school, where I was involved in the FFA program my senior year and became the greenhouse manager there. Currently, I am a first year student at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, PA. I'm majoring in ecology and minoring in Italian studies. I am also involved in cross country, winter track, and spring track. In the spare time that I have, I like to garden and work with plants. In fact, I am a garden assistant on campus. I help maintain the campus greenhouse and the surrounding planting beds. This job earns me a bit of extra money, but it also benefits the campus and the local environment because the plants we plan on growing are native plants. Although I love horticulture, my current plan with my degree is to become a forester. As previously mentioned, I have studied forestry. In fact, I won a local forestry competition known as CDEs (career development events) for my FFA chapter. Once I get my ecology degree, I will be able to apply all of this knowledge to bettering local ecosystems and improving land management. In a world where the population is steadily increasing and resources are becoming exploited at greater rates, land management is of a high priority. We must maintain green spaces all the while adapting to the ever changing human population. Done incorrectly, land can be wasted and destroyed. Therefore, land needs to be managed efficiently and safely. As a forester I will be able to improve the health of the forest, not only benefiting the trees and plants but also the animals, people, and farmland. Healthier woods means healthier streams and recreational areas which can be linked to human health. Forested land also helps preserve farmland by controlling runoff, providing buffers between streams and roads, and anchoring soil to stop erosion (which can be a big problem and detrimental to soil health, thus affecting crop health). All that being said, while I don’t plan on working directly in the farm fields, the work I could do as a forester will surely benefit farmers and their land. As most people who work with plants would say, be it for employment or out of personal interest, there is something calming and meditative about working in nature. In my garden at home, I have experienced the peace that comes with being outside. The sense of connectedness with the land one gets when working with agriculture or horticulture is addictive and transforming to many. For me, gardening has improved my mental health at times and provided me with extra physical labor, which when cared for with the right attitude, can teach you many valuable lessons about hard work and grit. I have loved plants for many years and so decided to pursue a degree involving plants and the management of such. Therefore, I thank you for considering me for this scholarship that would help me on this endeavor.